Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Salted Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

When I see a recipe repeatedly I sometimes feel compelled to give it a try. Salted Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies from Danielle Oron's Modern Israeli Cooking is one of those recipes. It was published in the New York Times a little over a year ago, then Food52 got in on the act and reprinted it as well.

Just recently David Lebovitz published his version of the recipe, which he had adapted and then raved that they were "some of the best chocolate chip cookies to ever come out of my oven." His goal was to make the cookies a bit more chewy and to increase the chocolate. Those are goals I thoroughly support. While I pretty much used his recipe, I took it a bit further. Instead of using one half cup of light brown sugar in place of one half cup of white sugar as he did, I used one half cup dark brown sugar. I also increased the chocolate. While Lebovitz uses chocolate chunks, I used chocolate chips and the whole bag, why not? It’s 12 ounces and 340 grams of semisweet chocolate chips. Next time I might try 3/4 of a cup dark brown sugar and just one quarter cup white sugar for even chewier cookies.

So the name really gives it away—the key to what makes these cookies so irresistable is the dusting of salt on the top and the tahini in the cookies which adds a particular richness. The cookies are chewiest on day one, but still delicious on day two. If you have any left. Speaking of which, I recommend portioning some of the dough into a zip top bag and freezing it so you can bake fresh “cookies on demand.” Simply heat the oven and put the frozen blobs of dough directly on a parchment lined baking sheet and minutes later you have fresh cookies.

Note: If you have a scale, I implore you to use it instead of measuring cups especially for the sugar and flour. It makes a big difference.

Salty Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from David Lebovitz and Danielle Oron

Ingredients

8 Tablespoons (115g, 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup (120ml) tahini, stirred

1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar

1/2 cup (90g) packed dark brown sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (150g) flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 package 12 ounces (340g) semisweet chocolate chips

Flaky salt

Instructions

Beat the butter, tahini, granulated sugar and brown sugar with an eletric mixer, until fluffy. Add the egg, the yolk, and vanilla, and continue to mix just until the eggs are incorporated. Add the dry ingredients until just combined, then stir in the chocolate chips. Do not over mix. Cover the dough and refrigerate overnight.

Heat the oven to 325ºF. Form the cookies using a scoop or spoon about 2 tablespoons in size (a #30 disher is perfect). Place them evenly spaced on a parchment lined baking sheets about 3-inches apart. Bake the cookies, turning the baking sheet in the oven midway during baking, until the cookies are golden brown around the edges but still pale in the center, about 13 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle cookies with flaky sea salt, and let the cookies cool on the baking sheet. Store in a tin or air tight container.